Friday, June 17, 2011

Bespoken For

As you can see, there's a lot of aspiration going on in the sewga room:

This weekend is Scott's birthday (let me tell you his number is high!). And let's not forget Father's Day. Amongst other gifts and activities, I decided to draft a bespoke T shirt pattern for him, based on an existing T shirt - a really grimy, seen-better-days-so-throw-it-out T shirt - he really likes.


I followed a method I found online, but stupidly didn't bookmark the site, and now I can't figure out where it is. It involves pinning the existing T to a flat surface and tracing out. Sounds simple but you have to use pin marks to delineate the seams on the parts of the shirt you cant actually draw because those seams are enclosed within the shirt (i.e. shoulders and neck line - remember T shirt necklines and sleeve openings are ribbed).

Then you have to take that 1 piece sloper and cut out the individual pieces (front, back, sleeves) and add seam allowances. Then you have to draft your ribbing separately. To make 1 inch ribbing for the neckline, I cut 2.5 inches (enough for fold over and seam allowances) and made the piece 2/3 the length of the open neckline. I followed the same ratio with the sleeve ribbing.

The prep has taken a few hours, but the sewing will begin apace. Wish me luck. I have enough fabric for 2 Ts...

5 comments:

  1. Wow! very impressive aspirations! Good luck with the sewing -- and Happy Birthday to your guy.

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  2. You are such a fabulous wife. :-) He's going to love this gift. Good luck and have fun! :-)

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  3. Wow. He's going to love this.

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  4. I can't wait to see how this goes as I'm planning to attempt a similar project sometime this week. Not sure what you mean by pinning the seams.

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  5. Thanks everyone!

    Susan: It's very hard to explain but easier to show. Effectively you poke pins at the back seam line so that, when you remove the Tshirt, you'll see where you need to draw those lines. It's a bit like Braille.

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